Screen Snapshots Using XWD

In KDE Free I described using Imagemagick’s “import” to take window and screen snapshots as a replacement for KSnapshot. Since then I have had problems with import leaving black areas on the snapshots, as another person describes here.

So I am now using X’s xwd instead, with the output piped through Imagemagick’s “convert”. Works with any DE. To set this as a keyboard shortcut in Openbox’s rc.xml:

<keybind key="Print"> <action name="Execute"> <startupnotify> <enabled>false</enabled> <name>Snapshot</name> </startupnotify> <command>bash -c "xwd | convert - /tmp/screenshot-$(date +%s).png"</command> </action> </keybind> <keybind key="S-Print"> <action name="Execute"> <startupnotify> <enabled>false</enabled> <name>Snapshot with Frame</name> </startupnotify> <command>bash -c "xwd -frame | convert - /tmp/screenshot-$(date +%s).png"</command> </action> </keybind> <keybind key="C-Print"> <action name="Execute"> <startupnotify> <enabled>false</enabled> <name>Snapshot Fullscreen</name> </startupnotify> <command>bash -c "xwd -root | convert - /tmp/screenshot-$(date +%s).png"</command> </action> </keybind>

This makes the Printscreen key take a snapshot of window contents, Shift-Printscreen include the window frame, and Ctrl-Printscreen capture the whole screen. You can also use a .jpg extension for that format instead of .png, and can change /tmp to any folder where you want the screenshots saved.

And you’ll need to install imagemagick, of course.